Late Absentee Ballots From Military in Afghanistan Would Have Won the Election For Governor Mitt Romney-Fiction!

Late Absentee Ballots From Military in Afghanistan Would Have Won the Election For Governor Mitt Romney-Fiction!

Summary of eRumor:

This is a forwarded email that contains an article that said that hundreds of thousands of military absentee ballots were delivered after the polls closed. Preliminary counts of the tardy ballots would have overturned the 2012 election and put Mitt Romney in the White House.

The Truth:

This eRumor came from a military satire site called The Duffle Blog and this article was intended to be a joke. Click for article.

There is a disclaimer on “About Us” section of this website that said, “The content of this site is parody. No composition should be regarded as truthful, and no reference of an individual, company, or military unit seeks to inflict malice or emotional harm. All characters, groups, and military units appearing in these works are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or actual military units and companies is purely coincidental.”

Even if one were to refuse to take the disclaimer seriously the numbers would not add up.

President Obama won the 2012 election with 303 electoral votes to Governor Romney’s 206.

President Obama got 61,173,727 Popular Votes and Governor Romney’s tally was 58,167,248. The difference between the two candidates is 3,006,479.

According to NATO statistics the U.S. has 90,000 members of the military serving in Afghanistan.

There is also the factor of the Electoral College versus the popular vote. If the U.S. were to elect presidents by popular vote and if every service member were to vote for Governor Romney the count would still not be enough to defeat President Obama.

updated 11/09/12

A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

WASHINGTON, DC – Sources confirmed today that hundreds of thousands of military absentee ballots were delivered hours after the deadline for them to be counted, with preliminary counts showing that they would have overturned the vote in several states and brought a victory for Governor Mitt Romney.

Officials say the ballots were delivered late due to problems within the military mail system. Tracking invoices show the ballots sat in a warehouse for a month, then they were accidentally labeled as ammunition and shipped to Afghanistan. At Camp Dwyer, Marine Sergeant John Davis signed for them and was surprised at the contents.

“I told Gunny we got a bunch of ballots instead of ammo,” Davis told investigators earlier today. “He told me to file a report of improper delivery and that the chain of command would take care of it. We didn’t hear anything for three weeks. While we were waiting we came under fire so we dumped a bunch of them in the Hescoes. We didn’t dig those ones back out.”

After military officials realized the initial error, the ballots were then sent back to the U.S. but suffered a series of setbacks.

Twelve boxes of ballots were dropped overboard during delivery to the USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) in the Persian Gulf, then while the ship sailed to Bahrain, postal clerks allegedly pocketed whatever ballots they wanted.

The remaining absentee ballots were loaded onto a C-130, but the flight was delayed until November 1st so the crew could get tax free pay for the month. Once the ballots arrived stateside they were promptly mailed to each state’s counting facility, reaching their final destination on November 7th.

“It’s a shame,” Rear Admiral John Dawes said when asked for comment. “I expected a delay so I ordered that everyone cast their votes eight months ago. It’s really unfortunate that our mail system failed us and directly affected the course of history.”

Upon hearing the news, angry Republicans have begun a demand for a recount, but most military absentee voters have shrugged off the news, with many wondering whether the care packages their families sent six months ago were ever going to show up.